Different Places, Same Faces
by MissNMikaelson
Summary: It took a long time to get the cure, and then there was only one dose. She had to make some hard decisions quickly, but the one to take the cure was never in question.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own TVD or TO.**

 **This is my first ever Saving Hope Crossover.**

 **A few notes. The cure as the show knew it did not find it's place in this crossover, and Jeremy never became a hunter. That means Kol is alive in New Orleans and Jeremy's ring still works.**

 **Also it's been a while since I've seen Saving Hope and really only remember the first season when Charlie was in the coma so that's where the story picks up and diverges from the canon.**

* * *

"Make way for Dr. Gilbert," Caroline grinned, "the youngest pediatric surgical fellow to ever grace the halls of … what's the hospital again?"

Elena laughed around the rim of her glass.

"I'm the same age as anyone else who went straight through school, Care," she finished her gin and tonic.

"Yeah," Caroline conceded with a smirk, "but you don't look it. You are thirty-one and don't look a day over twenty. What's your secret?"

"If I told you I'd have to kill you," Elena smirked and ran her finger around the rim of her glass.

"Good thing I already know then," Caroline leaned back. She beamed when the waitress brought them their food. "Well tuck in," she popped a fry into her mouth, "this'll be the last Mystic cheeseburger you have in years."

"I think I'll savour it then," she chuckled.

Elena glanced around the Grill while she ate her burger. She could see Matt and Tyler on the other side of the room engaging in a friendly game of pool. They did that every time Tyler came back to town for a visit; it was their tradition. Alaric sat at the bar with Damon who was downing glass after glass of bourbon; that was their tradition. As for Elena it was a meal with Caroline and Bonnie; unfortunately Bonnie was out of town so it was just the two of them.

"So," Caroline reached for her water glass, "how's Damon taking you leaving?"

"About as well as he took the cure," Elena shrugged.

It had taken eight years to find the cure for vampirism only to learn that it was a single dose. He had begged her not to take it. He had pleaded with her to stay a vampire, but Elena couldn't do it. She had never wanted that life. Caroline and Bonnie had supported her decision, but Damon had taken it badly, and by that she meant he had gone on a three day bender that ended with Jeremy's neck being broken. Thankfully he had been wearing his ring, but Elena had not been able to forgive him because he hadn't seen the silver band. Their relationship had fizzled out shortly after, but it was always doomed to.

At least he was being a little more supportive. He had only fought with her for two hours before throwing up his hands and walking away.

Heck even Klaus was supportive of her decision. Although he probably would have forced the cure down her throat if she'd said no.

"How about Klaus?" Caroline's hand darted out to snake a fry from Elena's plate.

"How long have you been dying to ask me that?" She smirked and playfully slapped the thief's fingers.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Caroline ate her stolen food and crossed her arms.

"Sure, you don't," Elena's eyes sparkled. "Klaus is Klaus. He knows my blood is useless after taking the cure, but he also knows eventually another one will come along so I still have his 'protection' should I need it."

"What about you moving to Canada?" Caroline braced her elbows on the table.

"He's pretty chill about that," Elena shrugged. "I think he's more upset that you decided to follow."

"It's time I get out of this town," Caroline shrugged. "People are starting to notice," she waved to her face. Her features were forever frozen at seventeen. "He's seriously okay with the move, though? He's not going to show up on our doorstep is he?"

"I mean…" Elena tilted her head and bit her lip, "… he's kind of madly in love with you, so he might at some point, but he's okay with me going. He figures one of the safest places I can be is a hospital, and understands my desire to get away from the supernatural."

"Hey," Caroline held her hand over her heart. She flashed the most indignant look she could muster and with a scowl leaned forward. "Klaus is not in love with me."

It took less than a second for three voices to echo Elena's 'yeah he is'. Caroline immediately turned to glare at Damon, Tyler and Stefan who had just walked in.

"See," Elena held out her hands, "everyone knows. Just like we all know you've secretly got the hots for him."

"I do not," Caroline snapped. She scowled when the guys snickered.

"Really?" Elena smirked. "So thinking about his hands on your waist, his piercing eyes on your body, and his stubble scraping deliciously over your skin while he whispers sinfully, wicked, things in, your ear does nothing for you?"

She grinned triumphantly when the blonde flushed. She didn't need vampire hearing to know Caroline's heart was thumping wildly.

"You sure you want to be a doctor?" Caroline cleared her throat. "Because you've got a way with words; perhaps you should start writing erotica."

Elena leaned back in the booth and grinned. "Maybe if medicine doesn't pan out."

* * *

Elena groaned and brought her hand up to block out the bright sunlight. She squinted at Caroline before yanking the blanket up and over her head.

"Go away," her voice was muffled, but her vampire best friend had no trouble hearing her.

"I can't," Caroline rolled her eyes, "because if you don't get up now you're going to be late. You don't want to be late for your first day do you?"

She reached down and yanked the covers from the bed before throwing them in a ball over a pile of boxes.

"Die," Elena curled in a ball and buried her face in the pillow.

"Already did, sweetie," Caroline chirped and set a steaming mug of coffee just out of reach.

Elena peeked up at her and growled when she couldn't reach the mug.

"Die twice."

* * *

Elena rolled her neck back and around while adjusting her purse and turned to look at Caroline. The blonde had woken her two hours before her first shift and it was a good thing. Her friend knew her well. Caroline knew that Elena wasn't a morning person and hated having to get up for work, she loved it when she was there, but she hated waking up and was completely useless until she'd had at least one cup of coffee.

"Alright," Caroline pulled a laminated sheet of paper from her bag, "I think I've got it all worked out now."

"You do, huh?" Elena's boots crunched over the snow. "What do you have figured out?"

"You're ten year plan," Caroline rolled her eyes. "Honestly you should have known that."

"I probably should have," Elena agreed. She could see the hospital up ahead when she reached for the paper. "Uh, Caroline?" Elena looked up through her lashes when she read through the list.

"Yes," Caroline smirked.

"Why have you dated my wedding?" Elena flipped the sheet around to reveal a date set three years in the future. "And the birth of my first child? Did Klaus hire you to organize my life?"

"No, and I haven't organized it," she shook her head. "I'm just getting ahead of the game and giving you a potential plan. You are thirty-one and most women want their first by the time they're thirty-five. That means you need to be pregnant by thirty-four, and it's you so I'm assuming you want to be married first."

"Preferably," Elena shook her head with a small laugh. She'd argue with Caroline later, but for now she was in heavy planning mode.

"Okay," Caroline grinned. "So your fellowship is two years. You'll be done at thirty-three and that leaves me one year to plan the wedding."

"Not giving me much time to find a guy," Elena pointed out.

"I'm giving you two years," Caroline spun around and walked backwards. Her heeled boots sank into the snow as she got closer and closer to the hospital and a group of men in blue scrubs.

"Two years isn't much time when you're doing a fellowship," Elena held up a finger and pointed to the building. "I'll pretty much be living here. My name on the lease is just a formality."

"I know that too," Caroline grinned. "You're not going to get out of the hospital much. This," she waved to the building, "is your dating pool, and I'm going to help you get a date." She gave her friend a wink.

She had never thought she would miss anything about being a vampire, but she would have taken back her enhanced reflexes when Caroline fell backwards with a shriek.

She knelt in the snow and saw a man come running in her direction.

"I'm going to kill you," Elena closed her eyes and took a deep breath before kneeling down. She gritted her teeth when the blonde's lips quirked up in a brief smile before she returned to her 'passed out' state.

"What happened?" The man fell to the blonde's other side.

Elena shivered at the man's voice. The smooth accent ran down her spine and had heat curling in her stomach. She'd always been a sucker for an accent. Klaus calling her sweetheart, and Kol referring to her as darling made her experience the same feeling. Although it wasn't as strong as it was with this stranger.

"She's fine," Elena gritted her teeth and kept her eyes on her friend.

"She doesn't look fine," he pressed his fingers to her neck. "Her pulse is erratic."

 _That happens with vampires,_ Elena breathed. She resisted the urge to look up. She had the strange feeling if she looked at his face and it was as nice as his voice she would be a goner.

"She is perfectly fine," Elena fingered the laminated paper in her hand. "She's trying to get me a date so she fake blacked out on the sidewalk to draw your attention. She's fine I swear."

"What?" He leaned back a bit and looked at the young woman. His breath caught in his throat; a pretty flush was staining her cheeks and she was refusing to look at him. "Why would she do that?"

"Because," Elena held up the paper, "she's a control freak who's decided to plan out the next ten years of my life. I can prove she's alright."

"Okay," he held in his laugh and waved for her to continue.

"Caroline," Elena addressed her friend, "I know you can hear me. And I know you vividly remember the Halloween you insisted on dressing up as sexy Elmo because you were certain it would be hilarious. Well I've got pictures of you in that costume locked away in a file on my computer. I can access that file from my phone."

She saw Caroline's finger twitch. All of Elena's death threats had been empty but this one was very real.

"If you don't sit up now," she reached for her phone, "then I am going to text those pictures to a certain fella in New Orleans."

Caroline shot up a little too fast to be considered human and snatched the phone.

"Don't you dare," she met Elena's eyes. "If you do I'll plaster your eighth grade photo all over this hospital."

"See," Elena turned to grin at the man, "I told you she was fine."

The air stilled in her lungs when she met his eyes. They were a familiar shade of brown. Everything about him was familiar. She knew his face as well as she knew her own, but Caroline had yet to notice.

Elena couldn't look away from his amused gaze.

"At least it worked," the blonde passed back Elena's phone, "I drew the attention of a cute doctor. And one with an accent at that; I call that a bonus."

"Are you sure you're alright?" He tilted his head and struggled not to laugh at the woman's antics. She couldn't have been more than twenty.

"Oh I'm fine," Caroline stood up with them, "I heal fast. I might not have gotten her a date, but at least she knows someone in the hospital now…" Her voice trailed off when she finally looked at him.

He stood under their scrutiny for a moment as the hair on the back his neck stood on end. They were looking at him like they knew him. It was a beat before the blonde threw up her hands and scoffed in his face.

"Seriously," Caroline shook her head and stormed off down the sidewalk. Elena heard her muttering for a few feet about crazy over-protective hybrids.

"Are you sure she's alright?"

"Believe me," Elena inhaled sharply, "the only medical help she needs is from a trained psychologist."

"Have I offended her?" He met Elena's guarded eyes.

"Oh no," Elena shook her head and managed a small smile. The longer she looked at him the more she was convinced it wasn't _him._ "She probably thinks you remind her of someone."

"Someone she's not fond of, I take it?" He quirked an eyebrow as they moved towards the hospital and the warmth it promised.

"Not overly," Elena smirked. Her eyes darted to his hands when he crossed his arms to ward off the chill; his fingers were bare and the sun was shining down on them both. If Caroline had stuck around a moment later she probably would have sniffed him out. "Don't worry; she'll get over it..."

It wasn't him. His eyes were more open. The light that danced in them was almost playful. _He_ was too serious to be playful; too burdened with the weight of time.

"Dr. Joel Goran," he offered. "Do you work here? I don't think we've met."

"I'm new," she smiled. "It's my first day actually."

"Nurse? Intern?" He guessed.

"Fellow," Elena smirked. "I'm Elena Gilbert: the new pediatric fellow." She saw his eyes widen as she took his offered hand.

A jolt raced up his arm and warmed his chest. He saw the surprise in her eyes and knew she had felt it too.

"You okay, doc?" Elena arched an eyebrow. He was still holding her hand and she almost regretted speaking when he cleared his throat and let go.

"Fine," he covered with a smile. "I'm sorry for staring. It's just that…"

"I don't look old enough to be a surgical fellow," she guessed.

"Yeah," Joel nodded with a small chuckle.

The movement drew her eyes to the stubble along his sharp jaw. How had she never noticed that jawline before? Maybe she was seeing more now because of the way he looked at her. There was a clear attraction in his eyes. She knew Elijah had felt it too, but he had never acted on it; knowing her predecessors really took a toll on his psyche because they did a real number on him.

"I assure you, doctor," she tipped her head back and smirked up at him, "I'm older than I look."

"And how old would that be?"

"A lady never tells," she teased. "I'd love to stick around and chat, but I've got an appointment with the chief of surgery."

"It was nice meeting you," Joel resisted the urge to take her hand again.

"I'll see you around," she walked backwards before pivoting on her heel. She could feel his eyes on her all the way to the elevator.

He tilted his head and watched her go. There was something about Dr. Gilbert that was undeniably attractive; there was something secret in her gaze. Her teasing smile was still kind, and her touch warm.

He wondered how many times he could possibly run into the new fellow.

* * *

"Dad," Hope came into the study with her father's ringing phone, "Caroline Forbes is calling you."

"Thank you sweetheart," Klaus picked up his phone and grinned. "Are you almost ready to head out to the Bayou?"

Hayley and Jackson had built a home out in the swamp surrounded by their pack. It had taken some time to work out a custody arrangement with Elijah acting as a mediator, but eventually they were on civil terms for the sake of their daughter. Hope spent weekends in the Bayou and the rest of the week in the Quarter.

"Almost," Hope skipped out of the room. "I just need to find my book."

He watched her go before lifting the ringing device to his ear.

"Hello, love," he grinned, "how's Toronto?" His eyes widened when she started berating him.

 _"Are you freaking serious? You couldn't just leave her alone? You had to send your little spy to infiltrate the hospital and watch her."_

"Caroline," he sat up; "I have no idea what you're talking about love."

 _"You didn't send him down here?"_

"I didn't send anyone up there," he stood and tapped the desk. "Hold on a second." He lowered the phone a bit and turned towards the door. "Elijah!"

"You bellowed?" His brother poked his head in the room a moment later.

"Did you send someone to spy on Elena and Caroline?" Klaus rolled his eyes.

"No," Elijah shook his head. "Why would I do that?" He didn't wait for an answer before leaving with an exasperated sigh.

 _"Elijah's there?"_

"Yes, sweetheart," Klaus frowned at the confusion in Caroline's voice. "And I assure you neither one of us sent anyone up there. Any vampire Elena may run into is purely coincidental."

* * *

 **I really only intended for this to be a one-shot but I see potential for more.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own TVD or TO.**

 **This is my first ever Saving Hope Crossover.**

 **A few notes. The cure as the show knew it did not find it's place in this crossover, and Jeremy never became a hunter. That means Kol is alive in New Orleans and Jeremy's ring still works.**

 **Also it's been a while since I've seen Saving Hope and really only remember the first season when Charlie was in the coma so that's where the story picks up and diverges from the canon.**

 **Definitely seeing potential here.**

* * *

She had been working at the hospital for two months when they went head to head. Up until that point they had been on reasonably friendly terms. She enjoyed the light flirtation, and the way her body came alive in his presence. She'd even seek him out during particularly long shifts because he had a way of waking her up and leaving her refreshed if not a little tense.

* * *

 _If there was one thing she hated about being a surgeon it was the long shifts. She was good up until hour eighteen at which point she was likely to curl up on the nearest flat surface and fall into a deep sleep._

 _She was on hour twenty now and couldn't even be bothered to look for a space she could lie down. She'd barely made it to the nurse's station before crossing her arms and laying her head on the counter. Her compassion was a gift, but so was being able to fall asleep anywhere._

 _She scrunched up her nose and wiggled it. Something light was tickling the end. It took her a moment to track the movement, but when the finger grazed her cheekbone and sent a jolt of electricity through her body she began to feel a strand of her hair moving._

 _She squinted through one eye and felt her lips lift in a small smile._

 _"Do you think that's a good idea?"_

 _"Probably not," Joel shrugged and let go of her hair, "but I think you'll take me waking you up over Maggie."_

 _"Why," Elena arched her back and stretched before standing up, "what was Maggie going to do?"_

 _Joel watched her for a moment and reached out to straighten the chain of her locket. Her soft skin electrocuted him in the same way as her eyes._

 _"There was talk of dumping cold water down your back," he whispered._

 _"Is that some sort of hazing thing?" She tilted her head. "Douse the new surgeons in liquid."_

 _He chuckled and set a cup of fresh coffee in front of her. "I get the feeling you would have retaliated."_

 _"I would have," Elena inhaled the rising caffeine and took a dainty sip. "There would have been a wet-t-shirt contest on the surgical floor."_

 _"Damn," Joel shook his head and smirked, "I should have let her wake you." His eyes slid down Elena's body slowly._

 _"My eyes are up here Dr. Goran," she teased while rolling her shoulders back. She smirked when her motion drew his eyes to her chest once more before returning to her face._

 _"You started the visual," he held up his hand._

 _"I suppose I did," Elena drew her lip between her teeth. Her sparkling eyes drifted down his chest._

 _"My eyes are up here Dr. Gilbert."_

* * *

Two months of back and forth before she called him into her OR. She needed an ortho consult, except she really didn't like what he had to say about her case.

"No," her scalpel gleamed in the bright light. A few years ago the sight and smell of the blood would have made her gums ache, but now it tugged at her heart strings. "Absolutely not."

"Why would you page me if you weren't going to listen?" Joel tilted his head. Currently all he could see of her was her eyes, and they were glittering with anger. "Her leg needs to come off. Look at the bone."

Elena didn't have to look to know what he was trying to show her. She had seen it herself. The tissue was dying, but he was telling her what she didn't want to hear.

"She is eight years old," Elena choked on her rage. "She loves to run and dance and play. I don't want to cut off her leg."

"You don't have a choice," he shook his head. "This is going to spread, and it's going to spread rapidly until it reaches her heart and kills her. It sucks Elena but flesh eating diseases work down and spread. Now you can stand here and spend time scraping, but I'd say you've got an hour at most before it's too late."

"I will not cut off this child's leg," Elena gritted her teeth. The last thing she wanted was to do that. Lily had been playing by the water when she scraped her foot and like all children she didn't want to take the time to clean it up; she was just a kid. She didn't deserve to lose her leg.

"Fine," Joel turned to the scrub nurse. "Bone saw."

"No," Elena snapped, "don't you dare."

"There's no other method of treatment," he met her eyes again, "bone saw." Joel held out his hand to the nurse.

Melissa looked between the two attending physicians standing over the table.

"Do not give him that saw, Melissa," Elena pointed at the nurse. "Get my phone and press redial then put it to my ear."

"Now's hardly the time for a third opinion," Joel frowned.

"I'm not getting a third opinion," Elena snapped. "I'm getting an alternate treatment. It's been known to work wonders."

"And if it doesn't?" He challenged.

"Then I'll cut it off myself." She set down her scalpel. Elena inhaled sharply when the call connected. "It's me. I need you in OR6 now… great I'll see you in ten minutes."

Elena exhaled and turned back around and scanned the operating room: an anesthesiologist, two scrub nurses, a resident, two interns, two scrub techs, and her and Joel.

She looked at the interns before coming to a decision.

"Rogers get upstairs and close the gallery," she nodded to the room where a few residents were watching, "I want it locked and then I want you back down here. Green at the scrub room door; a woman is coming this way. I want you to get her a surgical gown, mask and a scrub cap. Nobody else leaves this room, and you two speak to nobody."

"You're closing the gallery on ground breaking medicine?" Joel cocked a brow.

"I am," Elena nodded.

"Dr. Gilbert?" Melissa watched the woman carefully. There was a fierce determination in her dark eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Saving my patient's leg."

 _How come I get all the new attendings?_

* * *

The deafening silence was only interrupted by the constant beeping of the heart monitor as it counted Lily's heart. Elena watched the monitor and waited with bated breath. Nine minutes had gone by since she had sealed off the room. Nine minutes had been spent in still quiet.

She knew they all thought she was crazy, but it didn't matter. Their thoughts could be taken care of easily. The heart was not easily changed, but the head could be persuaded, and she knew someone who was a master of the craft.

"How much longer are we going to wait?" Joel watched the spread of the disease. It had moved a quarter of an inch up the girl's tibia.

"No time at all," Elena turned to face him. Through the window into the scrub room she saw Caroline coming in with Dr. Green. "She's here."

Joel turned and glanced over his shoulder and felt his brows lower in confusion.

"Your friend," he turned back to Elena with an incredulous look, "how the bloody hell is she going to help?"

If she had doubted the fact that he was not Elijah at any point his confusion would have chased it from her mind. She chose to ignore him in favour of her friend.

"You must be really desperate," Caroline held a mask over her face and eyed the table. It didn't take long to realize why. Elena hated it when it was a kid on her table.

"She's eight years old Care," Elena flexed her fingers.

"I bet you miss being able to do this yourself," Caroline laughed.

"It's one of the only things," Elena smiled behind her mask.

"Are you sure it'll work?"

"Positive," Elena reached over and pointed. "You see here? The tissue is necrotic; it's dying from a bacterial infection. All of this could have been prevented by proper care, but…"

"She's eight years old," Caroline deduced, "and wouldn't stop playing long enough to do it. Her parents probably didn't even notice until it started to spread."

"She's a foster kid," Elena sighed, "in a house full of foster kids. It's fair to say they weren't paying much attention either."

"Alright," Caroline nodded. "First thing to do is clear out the room."

"I'm sorry, but who the heck is this?" One of the interns pointed to Caroline. "What authority does she have?"

"Mine," Elena snapped. "I've got a process for this Care. They need to think surgery passed in a blur, and all that they'll remember is that she was not as bad off as we thought."

"Got it," Caroline lowered her mask.

Elena waited until Caroline had compelled everyone in the room to forget and leave. She stopped her before she could do the same to Joel and the anesthesiologist.

"I'm going to need their help," Elena started reaching for the clamps.

"What are you doing?" Joel frowned. "She'll bleed out in minutes."

"No she won't," Elena looked up to meet his eyes. "Trust me." She waited until he nodded before pulling the metal free. "Caroline."

Caroline stepped up beside Elena and brought her wrist to her mouth. She bit down with an audible crunch and ignored the aghast expression in Joel's eyes.

"What the hell?" He moved as if to push her back and found his wrist held by Elena.

"Wait and watch," she gave a pointed look at Lily's leg.

Joel followed her gaze to the stream of blood flowing from Caroline's wrist into the open wound on Lily's leg. For a moment nothing happened and then before his eyes the bone regained its colour and the flesh began to pink up.

"Start lining up the vessels," Elena let him go. "Don't worry about irrigating. We won't have time."

Her fingers moved at the speed of light with his and in a matter of moments Lily had two whole legs.

"Caroline, can you take care of Dr. Haines?" She nodded to the anesthesiologist. "And then Dr. Goran?"

"Take care of?" Joel watched as Elena instructed their dazed co-worker to take the child to recovery. He held up his hand to hold Caroline at bay and tore off his mask. "What did she do to everyone? What did she do to the patient?"

"Am I taking care of him?" Caroline crossed her arms.

"How about answering some questions?" Joel snapped. He had heard of cellular regeneration, but never on such a scale as what he had just seen.

"Okay," Caroline nodded. "I made them forget what happened in this OR, and I'm going to do the same to you."

"Why don't you give us a minute?" Elena sighed and turned to her friend. "Unless we get slammed with a major trauma nobody is using this room again tonight."

Caroline looked between Elena and Joel for a moment before nodding. She told the brunette she would be back in a flash when she needed her before vanishing into thin air.

Elena felt a bead of sweat trickle down her spine as she tugged off her gown and gloves. Tearing the mask from her face she dropped it into surgical waist and turned to face him.

One of the many things she hated about vampires was compulsion and the thought of compelling Joel felt inexplicably wrong. Unless it was absolutely necessary it didn't have to happen.

"You've never seen anything like it," Elena pulled off her scrub cap and tucked it in her pocket. Strands of hair slipped free from her hastily tied bun.

"Obviously," he discarded the medical gown and pulled the unblemished mask to hang around his neck. "Lily will have to be screened for any number of infections now."

"No she won't," Elena shook her head. "She will make a full recovery. The only scars will be psychological from my idiot interns gloating about a possible amputation."

"She said you used to be able to do that yourself," Joel followed her into the scrub room and began washing his hands.

"You caught that huh?" Elena watched the lather form on her skin. He was sharp she'd give him that much.

"What exactly did she do?"

Elena licked her lips and rinsed the soap from her hands. She turned to find him drying his hands at the same time she started. Both of them were blind to the man in the corner.

"Caroline is my best friend," Elena pursed her lips. "We grew up together. She's the same age as me: thirty-one."

"She doesn't look a day over seventeen," Joel threw the towels in the laundry.

"Because she's not," Elena turned to meet his eyes. She hadn't told him anything about how familiar she was with his face, or where she had come from, but she found she didn't want to lie to him. She mentally crossed her fingers and hoped he was open minded.

"Caroline is eternally frozen at seventeen, and for the longest time I was frozen at eighteen, but then I started aging again. That's a whole other story though."

His brows knit together as she lost herself in a long forgotten memory.

"Elena," he reached out and took her elbow.

The electric jolt drew her out of her trance.

"Sorry," she offered a small smile. "Let's go with the short version."

"Why: what's wrong with the long version?" Joel tilted his head. His free hand tapped the metal sink.

"Nothing," she shook her head, "it's just really long. It's so long that if I were to produce it as a television show it would be five seasons."

"That's long." Joel agreed. He forced himself to hold in his laugh. He was still confused and angry and in desperate need of answers. He had also been all but undermined in the OR by a fellow who he outranked by two years.

"Short version it is," Elena sighed. "I don't know how open you are to the supernatural but Caroline is part of that world. She's a vampire," she slapped her hand over his mouth to keep him from interrupting her. "Caroline is a vampire and vampire blood has healing properties. It restores dead tissue by making the live tissue multiply at a rapid rate. I only use vampire blood when I see no other choice."

"You realize how insane that sounds?" He spoke slowly. For a moment he feared she needed to be committed.

"You just saw something you can't explain," Elena looked up into his sceptical eyes. "I've explained it to you."

"Vampires?" Joel scoffed. "That's crazy Elena."

"Ludicrous," she agreed, "but no less true," she pressed her lips together and sighed. "There is a whole other world out there Joel. One you know nothing about. It's dark and dangerous, but there is also light and hope in the midst of it. Fourteen years ago I was standing in your position when my boyfriend first introduced me to a world that had been surrounding me my whole life."

Joel saw the truth in her eyes; she wasn't lying, but he wasn't ready to listen. He held up his hands to keep her from coming any closer and took a step back.

"You're hiding something else," he shook his head. "What is it?"

"If you don't want to hear about vampires than you don't want to hear about this," she gave a wry laugh.

"About what?"

"You," she shrugged, "and the place you've got in it."

"You're right," he brushed around her for the door, "I don't want to hear that because like I said it's insane."

"Joel…"

"Don't Elena," he paused and glanced over his shoulder. "I don't want to discuss this anymore and I really don't want to talk to you right now."

A vampire had once tried to rip out her heart. She had never forgotten the feeling of his fingers curling around the pumping organ. They had squeezed and tightened and stolen her breath in a crushing wave of pressure. She hadn't thought herself capable of feeling that now that she was human again, but watching him walk away came close.

* * *

The post-op report was easy enough. She'd written such documents before and the fact that Lily was a foster child meant few people were going to come sniffing around anyway, but even so she had taken her time.

By the time she made it the on-call room three hours had passed. Two o'clock in the morning was generally a quiet time unless a major accident was rolling in. She would have been there sooner but she kept thinking about the look in Joel's eyes.

She looked up from where she was sitting on the couch with her head in her hands as the door opened to reveal the last person she thought she would see.

She stood up slowly and pushed her messy hair back from her face.

"I thought you didn't want to talk to me," she swallowed.

"I don't," he pushed the door shut and watched her tug her lower lip between her teeth as she stepped towards him

"Then what are you doing…" Elena's breath caught in her throat.

Joel grasped the back of her neck and lowered his head to catch her lips in a bruising kiss.

She parted her lips for the strong sweep of his tongue. His left hand stole under her scrub top and splayed across her ribs.

Elena gasped for breath when he broke from her mouth to lick and nip at her throat. She tugged on his hair and moaned; his teeth tugged at her sensitive skin to leave a wet mark that would form a bruise by morning.

"Joel," she closed her eyes and pressed her lips together.

"Elena," he pulled the blue fabric at her hips so she was pressed to his chest and nipped at her ear.

"I get it," she hummed, "no talking." She used all of her strength to plant her hands on his chest and pushed him back.

"Elena?"

Elena moved around him to the door and flipped the lock. She took a ragged breath before turning back to face him. With a quick movement she crossed her arms and pulled her top over her head. The material hit the floor and puddled.

She moved silently and tugged his scrub top over his head before pushing him to sit on the couch. She met his lidded eyes and reached up to unhook her bra with one hand. The straps slid down her slender arms before the black material fell with a soft thump.

"No talking right now," she placed her hands on his shoulders and knelt on either side of his thighs to straddle him. "Right?"

"Right," he swallowed before sucking her bottom lip into his mouth and running his hands over the smooth expanse of her back. By the time his mouth reached the tops of her breasts he had flipped them so he was lying between her legs.

They could talk later.

* * *

 **So this is what that M rating was for.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own TVD or TO.**

* * *

Strong hands took hold of her waist and pulled her into a dark room. The last time something like that had happened she'd found a length of wood poised over her heart and her deranged doppelganger moments away from ending her, then, immortal life. Luckily her latest assailant's intent was of a more carnal nature.

Elena's heart leapt into her throat. Her breath caught in her lungs and she melted back into his hard chest.

Since the incident in the OR events like this one were common. It seemed once a shift, at the very least, she wound up in: an on-call room, an empty patient room, or a supply cupboard. Once they had stumbled into the skills lab, but the door didn't lock and after nearly being caught they re-located. Fraternization wasn't forbidden amongst the doctors but it did lead to relentless ribbing from the remainder of the surgical team. It wasn't like he was her superior and it was a quid pro quo situation, he was an orthopedic surgeon and she was in pediatrics, they just wanted to avoid the teasing.

At least they wanted to avoid the teasing from the rest of the staff. Elena rather enjoyed it when he teased her.

He was teasing her now. His dextrous fingers skimmed along the top of her pants. His stubble followed the path of his lips, or maybe his lips were following the stubble; all she knew was her soft skin being rubbed raw in the most delicious of ways.

He sucked her fluttering pulse and pulled the string on her scrubs. The material slid a few inches down exposing the tops of her thighs and her lacy underwear.

"Joel…" Elena bit her bottom lip. It was a good thing they were kept busy because if not her poor lips would have been bitten raw and permanently swollen from kisses.

He used his knee to part her thighs and smirked. Her hitched breath was music to his ears; her breathy moans the perfect accompaniment.

"Please…" she tipped her head back and held his neck to keep him in place.

"Please what?" His hot breath fanned over her neck. He felt the shiver race down her spine.

"Touch me," she rolled her eyes. Using her free hand she took his wrist and pushed down until he was cupping her through her underwear. "Then maybe I'll return the favour," she rocked back teasingly.

"That seems like a deal I can't pass up," he nipped at her jaw.

Elena's body hummed with the anticipation of her coming bliss as his hand slowly moved back up to dip beneath the band of her panties. Her body coiled tightly as she waited for that first touch, but before he could reach his final destination the mood was interrupted by an annoying chirp.

"It's not mine." She groaned in frustration and lifted her pager.

He sighed and let go of her.

She straightened her clothes and tilted her head to meet his eyes. "Later?"

He backed towards the door and nodded.

"Joel?" Elena chewed her lip. She was certain she was going to kick herself for bringing it up, but it felt unfinished. "Maybe we could talk about it."

"About what?" He paused with his hand on the door.

"The operation," a line appeared between her brows, "when I called in a 'special' consultant."

"What operation?"

Elena's mouth popped open as the realization hit her.

Joel lifted his pager when it sounded again. He flashed an apologetic smile.

"I gotta go," he tore open the door, "we'll talk later."

* * *

Elena's heels clicked on the stairs of the apartment building. It was excellent cardio which was why she had picked it in the first place, but right she lamented choosing the older building that had no elevator. By the time she reached the top floor she was mentally cursing her life choices.

She was tired.

Her feet were killing her. Seriously, why had she worn high heels that morning?

She hadn't run into Joel either so she was still strung up.

Between her aching feet and her smarting back she would be lucky to take off her bra before collapsing in her bed. She knew she had to take it off though; her breasts felt incredibly heavy and full. They barely fit in her bra.

She rubbed her tired eyes after locking the door and got ready for bed as quickly as she could in her tired state. She had just enough foresight to close the blinds on the rising sun before crawling beneath the covers.

* * *

Joel stifled his yawn as best he could and blinked rapidly to come awake. He would have done better with a cup of coffee in his system but the jolt would have to wait until he had taken care of the page that brought him to the ER.

"Somebody call for an ortho consult?" He walked up to the nurse's station and leaned on the counter.

"Nope," Erica looked up from her computer.

"Well somebody paged me," Joel felt his irritation grow. If someone was pulling a practical joke on him it wasn't funny.

"I don't know anything about an ortho page Dr. Goran," Erica shook her head.

"I paged."

Joel turned around to find Alex Reid. She was a general surgery resident and his ex-girlfriend. He hadn't realized she was back to work after the accident that had put her fiancé in a coma.

"Alex," he greeted with a frown. "What have you got: a broken bone?"

"Laceration actually," she crossed her arms.

"You called me for sutures?" He gave her an incredulous look. "Sutures? Any intern could take care of that."

"It's not that deep, but the patient was crying and demanding her doctor."

"I've been awake for twenty-nine hours," he rubbed his jaw, "and you paged me to do an intern's job. Is this some sort of payback for the nurses?"

All he wanted to do was crash in an on-call room somewhere.

"You're not worth that much effort," Alex scoffed. "You cheating on me is ancient history; I did page for a patient. I thought you might make an exception since she's an eight year old girl and scared."

"Who is it?" He reached for the chart. He couldn't remember ever treating a child, but it wasn't uncommon for surgeons to forget patients.

"Lily Tanner," Alex led him through the ER, "you were her surgeon last month."

He squinted at the neatly typed lines of the chart and Alex's hand written notes. The name was completely unfamiliar to him. He was so busy studying the notes that he didn't notice Alex pulling the curtain aside.

"Hi Lily," Alex forced a smile. "I found your doctor."

Joel lifted his head to look at the small girl. At eight years old she was skinny and pale with huge blue eyes and dark brown curls tugged into a messy ponytail. Tears streaked down her cheeks. Her left arm was being held by a tall boy who looked like he was her brother; she used her right to swipe at her nose.

"He's not my doctor," she sniffled. "I want my doctor."

"Lily," the boy sighed, "just let the doctor help you."

"I want my doctor," her voice was small, "I want Dr. Gilbert."

"I'm afraid Dr. Gilbert's not here Lily," Joel offered an encouraging smile. He glanced down at the chart to find Elena's name on the post-op report. He made a mental note to examine the chart later and set it on the end of the bed. "Can I have a look at your arm?"

"I like Dr. Gilbert," Lily looked at him suspiciously. "She's nice."

"She's very nice," Joel agreed. He carefully took her arm to examine the cut. "I think I've got it from here Dr. Reid."

"Do you know her?" Lily winced.

"Dr. Reid?" He lifted his head to look at Lily.

"No Dr. Gilbert," Lily sighed and rolled her eyes.

Joel suppressed his smirk. The exasperated look on the child's face was adorable.

"I do know Dr. Gilbert," Joel smiled.

"He knows her very well," Alex returned with a suture kit. She cocked an eyebrow when Joel looked at her.

"I do know her very well. She's a friend of mine," Joel lifted a needle. "I'm gonna give you a needle now to numb your arm, alright?"

Lily nodded and squeezed her eyes shut. She squeezed her brother's hand.

"She's really pretty," Lily peeked through her eyelashes.

"I would have said beautiful," Joel teased.

"Do you remember Dr. Goran, Lily?" Alex opened the chart again and filled in a few boxes.

"Uh-uh," Lily watched Joel clean the cut on her arm. "Were you the doctor who saved my leg? Dr. Gilbert said she had help from another doctor."

 _Looks like her actions had some consequences… at least Lily's leg is okay._

"That must have been me," Joel started stitching the cut. It would take about ten to close the wound. "I don't think we actually met though."

"That's okay," Lily chirped. Now that she couldn't feel her arm she was in a happier mood. "I got to meet you now. Are you as nice as Dr. Gilbert?"

Joel could practically feel Alex's eye roll as she turned away to go towards another bed. He could almost hear her scoff.

"Why don't you tell me when we're done?" He smiled at Lily. "Can you keep a secret Lily?"

She nodded and smiled brightly.

He leaned closer and whispered in a conspiratorial way.

"I don't think anyone is as nice as Dr. Gilbert," he winked, "or as pretty."

Lily used her free hand to cover her mouth and stifle her giggle.

* * *

A soft creaking sound grated on her nerves. She rolled on the bed and turned away from the sound to bury her head under the blankets.

She was sound asleep when the door stilled again.

* * *

"Can you tell me what happened to your arm Lily?" Joel wound a white bandage around and around. He could tell the pain killer he'd given her had kicked in.

"I tripped," she blinked.

"Really?" Joel arched a brow. "What did you trip on Lily?"

She frowned and looked up at her brother.

"I don't remember," her big eyes blinked quickly. "It happened so fast and then Tommy picked me up."

Joel looked at the boy holding her hand. His eyes lit on his arm.

"What happened to your wrist Tommy?" He reached out.

"Nothing," Tommy pulled down his sleeve.

"He got in a fight."

"Lily!"

"You did," she protested. "One of the bigger kids pushed me and you hit him. Don't you remember? Mr. McKenzie got really mad at you and squeezed your arm."

"Where are your parents?" A sense of dread crept up his spine.

"We don't have any," Lily blinked, "but our foster parents aren't here."

"How did you get here?" Joel was already motioning over one of the interns.

"Walked," Lily shrugged.

Joel froze and glanced at her leg before reaching for the chart. The blood drained from his face when he saw the date of her surgery four weeks ago.

"You walked?" He glanced up. "Why didn't your foster parents drive you?"

"They said I just needed a band aid," Lily held her arm, "and to get it out of the bathroom, but there weren't any."

 _How the hell did she walk here?_

"Dr. Rogers," he addressed the intern, "go and call social services."

"No!" Lily shifted onto her knees and grabbed Joel's lab coat. "Don't call them."

"Lily I have to," he gently took her arm, "they should have brought you in here, and not doing that was neglectful. They're supposed to take care of you."

"But if you call the mean lady will come and put us in different houses," fat tears ran down her face. "I wanna stay with my brother."

Joel saw the fear in the child's eyes and sat on the edge of the bed to take her hands.

"Please don't call," Tommy shivered. He had given up trying to keep his sister quiet.

"I can't let you go back there Tommy," Joel sighed, "but I will talk to the social worker and do my best to get you both in the same house."

"Do you promise?" Lily sniffled.

"I promise," he swore.

"Pinky promise," Lily lifted her good hand.

* * *

Joel rubbed his temples and heaved a sigh. It had taken social services an hour to turn up and then he'd plead on the behalf of the two children.

The social worker assured him they would do their best to see the kids placed together in a good home, but he had refused to let it go until she came back and told him it was sorted out.

He found the young siblings in the resident's lounge. He paused in the door and tilted his head.

Lily was sitting cross-legged on the couch. She had one hand held high in the air and a white feather suspended in front of her face.

"Hey," Joel stepped inside. "That's a neat trick."

"It's not a trick," Lily tilted her head to look up at him. "It's magic."

"Oh," he smiled tiredly. "Magic, huh?"

"Mmhmm," Lily grinned broadly.

"Can you tell me how you're doing that?" Joel took a seat on the couch.

Lily dropped her hand and the feather fluttered into her lap. She held her fingers and pressed her lips together.

"I'm not supposed to say," she looked around the room.

"I promise I won't tell," he whispered. "I can keep a secret."

"Do you promise not to tell?" Lily looked around the room and saw the bathroom door opening.

"I'll do one better," Joel grinned and lifted his hand. He extended his pinky and hooked it around hers.

"A pinky promise is sacred," Lily reminded him.

"I know," he chuckled, "and I kept my last one. A social worker is here to take you and your brother to a new home: together. So now will you tell me your magic trick?"

Lily shifted onto her knees and cupped her hands around her mouth to whisper in his ear.

Joel's eyes widened. She had quite the imagination that the foster system had luckily failed to stomp out.

"Is your brother one too?" His eyes sparkled with amusement.

"He doesn't like playing with feathers anymore," Lily smiled secretively. "He says it's for little kids."

"He's moved on to bigger things," Joel nodded in understanding. "I'll tell you what though, that's pretty cool what you were doing."

"What did she do?" Tommy walked out of the bathroom and crossed his arms. He tilted his head and eyed his sister.

"You pinky promised," Lily shook her head. Her voice was only a whisper.

"I'm not supposed to say," Joel chuckled. "Now why don't you come with me? There's a lady here who's going to take you both to a new home."

"Together?"

"Together."

* * *

Several hours later Joel sat alone in a darkened radiology room after taking a short nap. In the pale light from the monitors he puzzled over Lily's post-op note.

 _Good luck figuring this one out._

Four weeks ago the child had come in with a bacterial infection; her foster parents had brought her in late at night. Pre-op speculated necrotizing fasciitis that may or may not have worked down to the bone, but post-op claimed the damage had been far less severe.

Lily had been discharged twenty-four hours later with no plans for a check-up.

"Why don't I remember you?" He pushed his hair back and rubbed his neck.

 _Because her friend did a number on you… her vampire friend… vampire. I think I might be going crazy._

Joel pulled his phone from his pocket and started dialing before he paused. Elena had wanted to talk about an operation; an operation where she had called a special consultant.

* * *

She hummed contentedly and rolled over in the bed only to collide with something solid. Instinctively she draped her arm over the broad chest and snuggled in.

"Morning Joel," her voice was thick with sleep.

"Its afternoon," a deep voice chuckled. "Who's Joel?"

Elena shot up in the bed so fast that she swayed and had to fight down a wave of sudden nausea. It passed after a beat and she opened her eyes to see who had crawled into her bed.

"Jer?" She blinked a few times and wiped the sleep from her eyes. She must still be asleep and dreaming. She pinched herself to wake up and winced when her fingers left a small bruise on her forearm.

"Hey, 'Lena," he sat up and draped his elbow over his knee.

"You're really here?" Elena swallowed. "What are you doing here?"

"I told you I was coming to visit," he laughed. "Caroline said you were still asleep so I thought I'd try and scare you. I was not expecting mid-afternoon cuddles."

"Neither was I," Elena laughed. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a tight hug. "Seriously thought: what are you doing here? I thought you weren't coming till the seventeenth."

"It is the seventeenth," Jeremy laughed. "Have you lost track of the days, sis?"

Her smile slowly melted from her face. She reached for her phone and gaped at the date.

"Elena," Jeremy tilted his head. "You okay?"

"Fine, Jer," she blinked at the screen. "I'm just surprised is all." Her voice reached her own ears from underwater.

"Okay," Jeremy shrugged. He didn't believe her for a second, but he figured it was mainly her lack of caffeine putting her off. "How about my first question?"

"What question?" Elena set her phone down and stood up. She yanked on an over-sized sweater and paused with her hands under the collar.

"Who's Joel?"

The blood drained from her face.

"He's a doctor at the hospital," Caroline supplied. She leaned in her roommate's bedroom door. "Were you having dirty dreams about your cute doctor friend?" She had never told Klaus about him and just allowed the Hybrid to think they'd run in with a random vampire.

Elena bit her bottom lip and turned on her best friend.

"Did you compel him?" She needed to know, and she needed a distraction. "Did you compel Joel?"

"Yeah," Caroline shrugged. "I thought you already knew that."

"I didn't," Elena shook her head.

"I found him after the surgery," Caroline blinked. "He was angry and freaking out. I compelled him to forget what happened in your OR and to believe that the two of you had a fight. Then I sent him on his way to make up with you."

"What happened in the OR?" Jeremy followed his sister into the kitchen. He watched her pull a carton of orange juice from the fridge.

"I got Caroline to save a girl's leg," Elena poured a glass and slowly drank half of it. "And then compel everyone but Joel."

"Why?"

"He wanted answers," Elena whispered. "So I told him the truth and he stormed out…" She took a shallow breath. "I can't believe you compelled him."

"I thought you wanted me to," Caroline reached into the fridge for a blood bag. "I don't see what the problem is. He doesn't remember anything about vampires, and he's happier for it. You wanted me to compel him didn't you?"

Elena shook her head slowly and waved away the cup of coffee the blonde tried to pass her.

* * *

 **What do you think? I'm feeling really inspired for this. I'm working on it between planning out chapters for my other stories.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own TVD or TO.**

* * *

 _He had never been a talker. He had never felt the need to speak to someone else non-stop every day of his life, but after weeks wandering the hospital he was desperate for someone to talk to; preferably someone who wasn't dead._

 _He had never been one to seek out gossip either or to care about the intimate workings of someone else's life, but it seemed all he could do was watch the living._

 _Was it too much to ask that someone amongst the living see him? Was it insane to want to talk to his friends?_

 _He couldn't even read. Well… he could but most of the time patients and family members turned the page before he was done._

 _He was bored out of his mind. Maybe that was why he took such an interest in the new pediatric fellow. The fascination had begun on accident really, but now he looked for her when he got the chance._

 _He had never been a believer, but after weeks stuck in, what he could only describe as, limbo he was willing to go on a little faith. And a woman whose best friend was a vampire seemed like someone who might be able to help him. Eventually… maybe… all he had to go on these days was hope._

Elena sat in a spinning chair and drummed her fingers nervously against the nurse's station. She couldn't remember the last time her nerves had been this bad. She knew her brother had noticed her unease during his three day visit, but he had listened and let it go when she told him to.

She was late. As of that morning, when she had donned her shoes and left for work, Elena was eight days late.

"Hey."

The smooth voice sent a thrill down her spine while making her jump. Her feet pushed back; her chair rolled back and crashed into the computer. Thankfully Maggie was behind her and caught the machine before it could topple over.

"Sorry," Elena bit her bottom lip. She stood and circled around the counter. "What are you doing here?"

"My flight got delayed; pushed back ten hours," Jeremy shrugged. "I thought I'd swing by and take you to lunch. Are you hungry?"

Elena smoothed down her scrubs and forced down a sick feeling that rose at the thought of food. Was it nerves, or something else?

"I could eat something," she smiled. "I can't leave the hospital though."

"I figured," Jeremy laughed. "How about you show me that cafeteria food the hospital is famous for? I could go something bland."

"Oh good," Elena hooked her arm in his, "because that's what you're going to get."

* * *

Joel stepped outside the skills lab where he had just finished giving a lecture and paused in the middle of the hall. The familiar laugh that traveled the length of the hall sent a rush of happiness through his chest.

He'd barely seen her in three days since she'd been off and he'd been working around the clock. A surgeon's schedule was never set in stone but his was extra crazy. They were down an orthopedic surgeon which meant he was picking up the slack; the chief had assured him they would bring someone else in to help out with the load but so far it hadn't happened. Thankfully he had a day off coming. He loved his job but he was really looking forward to that day off. Mainly because it coincided with one of hers and he had plans to ask her to dinner; it was high time they went on a proper date.

He turned around with the intention of approaching his favorite brunette and froze in his tracks. There was a bright smile on her face and a man holding her arm. Numbness infused his body as he watched her walk away; his feet were glued to the floor for several moments after she disappeared.

* * *

Jeremy tilted his head and eyed the tray in front of his sister. She had worked away at her soup, but had barely touched her sandwich.

"You okay?"

"Hmm?"

Elena inhaled slowly. Her eyes lifted from the table quickly.

"Are you alright? You've barely touched your food."

She bit her bottom lip and dragged her spoon through the soup.

"I guess… I guess I'm not really that hungry," she shrugged one shoulder. What little soup she had eaten was twisting in her stomach.

"Elena," Jeremy leaned forward. His head ducked down in an effort to meet her eyes. "What's wrong? You've been keeping something to yourself for a few days."

Elena worried her bottom lip. The truth was on the tip of her tongue. Part of her wanted to tell him everything about Joel, little Lily Tanner, the compulsion, and his questionable status as an uncle to be. The other part wanted to keep it all in; the more people who knew about Joel made keeping his existence secret difficult. She knew what he was and she knew how difficult life could be for someone like them.

"Please don't deny something's bothering you," Jeremy sighed.

"I won't," she leaned back in her chair, "but I'm not ready to talk about it yet either because I haven't figured it all out; it might just be in my head. Can you trust that I'll tell you when I am?"

"Promise?" Jeremy cocked an eyebrow.

"Pinky promise," she held up her hand.

He laughed and hooked his little finger around hers.

"You do realize we're not kids anymore, right?" He leaned forward to meet her dark eyes.

"I'm a pediatric surgeon; Jer. Part of my job is being on a level with the kids."

"Fair enough."

He sat back in his chair and looked her over slowly before his eyes darted to the corner.

"Will you tell me one thing?"

Elena took a sip of her water and nodded slowly.

"Does what's bothering you have anything to do with the guy in the suit?"

Her blood ran cold. Had Joel stepped into the cafeteria? Had Jeremy seen him and made the immediate assumption Caroline had?

She looked over her shoulder quickly; dark eyes darted around the cafeteria looking for him. A line appeared between her brows; Joel wasn't in the cafeteria.

"What guy?" She spun back around.

"The one right there," he frowned. "Over in the corner. How are you not seeing him; he's been watching us since we sat down."

Elena followed his pointed look to the corner several feet from their table. Her eyes took in the generic wallpaper that lined most of the hospital and a few scuff marks on the linoleum.

"Uh… Jer," she pressed her lips together, "there's nobody there."

"Yeah he is, he's right…" his mouth formed a perfect 'o' as the realization hit him like a ton of bricks. "Great… I'm seeing ghosts."

 _"I'm not a ghost."_

"You haven't seen a ghost in a while," Elena crossed her arms.

 _"She knows about ghosts too?"_

"He says he's not a ghost," Jeremy frowned. He pushed a hand back through his short hair. His eyes tracked the well-dressed spirit's path to their table.

"My brother the medium," Elena sighed. "Who is it?" She was glad of the distraction. She needed something to take her mind off her personal issues since she couldn't take the test for another forty-eight hours.

 _"She wouldn't know me. We've never met, but I've been watching her since Lily Tanner's surgery."_

"He's been watching you since Lily Tanner," Jeremy leaned close to whisper. "Who's Lily?"

Elena mirrored his actions so they were both hovering over the table. This was a conversation they definitely didn't want carrying.

"She's a little girl: foster kid, eight years old," Elena glanced around to make sure nobody was listening. "I had a little 'help' treating her. She needed a special 'healing' treatment."

 _"Her vampire friend popped in and healed the kid. Vampires… never thought I'd see that."_

"Caroline," Jeremy nodded. "Bet you miss the days when you could do that yourself."

"It's the only thing I miss," Elena rolled her eyes.

 _"She's a vampire too?"_

"She was," Jeremy's eyes cut to the spirit. "Not anymore."

"Jer!"

"What?" He held up his hands. "Who's he gonna tell?"

"People like you," Elena replied without missing a beat.

"There are no people like me," Jeremy laughed.

"Okay…" Elena tucked her hair behind her ear, "… a witch then."

"Most already know about the world you came out of," he cocked a brow.

 _"There's nobody else like you? Do you talk to a lot of people like me… people caught in limbo?"_

"I try not to. People tend to look at me like I'm crazy when I talk to thin air."

 _"Makes sense."_

Elena tilted her head when Jeremy turned slightly and listened. She frowned when her brother slowly shook his head.

"I can't do that."

"Can't do what?"

"He wants me to talk to someone for him," Jeremy sighed. "His girlfriend… fiancée sorry… wants me to tell her he loves her and he's still here. She's a surgeon here."

"Obviously you can't do that," Elena crossed her arms. "She would think you're crazy. People don't just believe in the supernatural. They don't take learning about it well Jer… they take it badly."

"I'm sorry man," Jeremy murmured. "I'd help if I could but…"

 _"I get it… I wouldn't believe you either."_

Jeremy watched the man turn around and pause several paces away before turning and calling back.

 _"She should tell Joel the truth."_

* * *

Every step sent jolts up her calves and through her body. Only eight hours into her shift and she was ready for a nap. Her mind had been going a mile a minute since she'd stepped through the doors that morning. It hadn't helped that most of her surgery's for the day seemed to be in OR6; the OR where Caroline had saved Lily's leg.

Each time she would look up at her scrub nurse she saw Joel. Her brother's words still echoed in the back of her mind: tell him the truth.

Tell him the truth about what?

Charlie, that was the spirit's name, had been following her around for a while. Had her poltergeist discovered the source of her anxiety, or was he talking about the memory that Caroline had stolen from him?

Either was possible. She had looked Charlie up. He was the other orthopedic surgeon on staff, the fiancé of Alex Reid, and currently in a coma in the ICU. She had wondered if vampire blood might help pull him out, but she shook the thought off. She wouldn't mess with the brain. On the off chance it was a tumor the blood would only speed its growth.

Her mind was split between Joel's memory and the possibility of the rapidly multiplying cells in her womb. Was it possible?

Of course it was possible. She was human, but at the same time it was unlikely. She had been late before, and she and Joel were practically an ad for condoms. But then… those times she had been late had been particularly stressful: her parent's death, Klaus coming after her, Stefan vanishing for months on end. She had been late, but she'd always been sleeping with vampires: a species incapable of having children – with the exception of Klaus. She had been late, but that had been before her partner was human.

They were practically a condom ad, but condoms break.

She just had to make it through another thirty-six hours. Thirty six hours and she could take a home test.

She slipped passed Maggie and Alex in a daze and glanced up.

Someone was calling her name. It took a moment for the water in her ears to clear before she saw Rogers standing in front of her with a patient chart.

"Dr. Gilbert?" The young intern's eyes flashed with concern.

"What is it?" Elena cleared her throat and took the chart.

"A boy came in to the ER," Rogers jumped into the explanation, "he swallowed three houses, a race car, a dog, a wheelbarrow and a cat from a monopoly set."

"Do I want to know why?" She sighed and reached for the x-ray. Lifting it to the light she squinted at the film.

"His big sister said he wasn't allowed to play with her and her friends," Rogers gave a nervous smile. "He swallowed the pieces so nobody could play. Is it surgical?"

"Are you kidding?" Elena cocked an eyebrow.

"It is right," Rogers eyes gleamed with excitement. "We have to open him up and pull the pieces out."

"Rogers…" Elena sighed, "… I'm going to let you in on a little secret alright? So listen carefully: we don't always have to cut. I am not going to subject a child to invasive surgery when his body is already doing the job."

"So… what do we do," Green swallowed.

"You admit him," Elena passed back the chart. "His body is already working on expelling the pieces. You admit him and the both of you are going to watch him carefully and catalogue every piece that comes out of him."

"You mean…?" Rogers' eyes narrowed.

"You want us to examine his stool?" Green shared a look with Rogers. "Isn't that a job for a nurse?"

"Today it's a job for you," Elena smiled sweetly after swallowing her rising bile. She liked to say she was nothing like Katherine, but she did have a bit of a vengeful side. "You two scared a little girl half to death and made her think she was going to lose her leg, so for the foreseeable future you're both going to watch this little boy's stool. Have fun."

She walked around the gaping interns and rounded a corner in much better spirits. Her happiness plummeted when she saw the man at the nurse's station.

A swooshing sensation made her sway slightly and for a moment she stood rooted to the spot.

Joel turned slowly when he felt eyes on him and found Elena staring. For a moment she looked like a deer in headlights.

He lifted his hand in a small wave and smiled.

Elena pivoted on her heel and hurried down the first hall she reached. She could hear his voice calling to her around the corner and hastened into the first unlocked door.

She pressed her back to the wood and breathed a sigh. Her chest rose and fell with a few rapid breaths when she heard him outside her hiding spot and straightened up. Her eyes landed on the shelves of medical supplies and everything she would need for a blood draw.

She flattened her palm over her stomach and nodded decisively.

"It can't wait."

* * *

 _Where'd she go?_

Joel turned slowly in the hall. Unless she'd gotten a 911 page and taken off at a run there was no way she could have vanished so quickly and even then he would have been able to hear her footsteps.

The look on her face had been guilty. She looked like someone who had been caught in the act of stealing a cookie from the jar.

He wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, but it was hard. He'd watched her walk off with another guy not ten hours before; a man she was physically comfortable with.

They'd never really had the talk. Normally he hated the discussion, but he found he was wishing they'd spoken about what they were to each other.

He pulled his phone from his pocket.

* * *

She tied off the rubber band around her upper arm and rested her hand on the makeshift table. She could have asked anyone on the floor to do this for her, but then they would have asked what she was testing for.

She winced when the needle broke the skin and carefully positioned the tube to catch the blood.

The loud ringing of her cell phone made her jump and rip the needle from her arm.

"Fuck!"

She wasn't typically a swearer but in that moment it was all she could think to shriek. The needle had hurt.

She slapped her arm and gritted her teeth as the door swung open.

"There you are," Joel stepped inside. He hung up his phone and flipped on the bright overhead lights. "Elena, what the bloody hell are you doing?"

She sighed and followed his eyes to her arm and the mess of tubes and needles.

"I'm trying to do a blood draw. I almost had it and then my phone made me jump."

"Oh," he walked over and pulled on a pair of gloves. He pulled over a stool and took hold of her arm. "Want to tell me why you ran off?"

Elena watched him fill both tubes with her blood.

"I had to draw some blood."

"For?"

"For… just general screening," she pressed the cloth to her arm and bent her elbow to hold pressure.

Elena knew Joel's reputation. Alex had told Maggie and Maggie had told her all about it. She knew his reputation, but she also knew he hadn't been sleeping with anyone else at the hospital. She didn't know how he would react to her 'possible' news.

"That man you were with this afternoon…" he labeled the blood.

Elena frowned when she caught the twist of his lips. Her mouth twisted into a slow smile.

"You're jealous."

"I am not…"

"You are," she giggled, "you saw me with another guy and now you're jealous."

"I wouldn't be if you hadn't looked so guilty before running off."

Joel pulled off his gloves with a snap and moved to stand up.

"Wait," she caught his wrist. "That's not why I looked guilty. You saw me with Jeremy; he's my little brother."

"Then why?" Joel dropped back onto his stool.

"Because," she blinked back a couple of tears, "I know something you don't. I thought you knew it, but you don't remember."

Joel tilted his head and frowned. He moved to take her shaking hand and folded it between his.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He felt a strong desire to wrap his arms around her trembling shoulders.

Elena wasn't sure why she was crying. She wasn't sad she was angry. She was angry at Caroline for doing it. She was angry at herself for not realizing sooner, and part of her was kind of angry with him because if that test was positive he was partially responsible for it.

"Lily Tanner," she swiped at her cheek and sniffled.

"Lily?" He tilted his head. "You mean the little girl who thinks she's a witch?"

"She's a witch?" Elena's head whipped around.

"She's a little girl with an overactive imagination," Joel smirked, "though I still don't understand how she did the thing with the feather."

Elena blinked and swallowed once. "She's a witch."

"She's…"

"A witch," Elena interrupted. "You saw her using magic."

"There's no such thing as witches." Joel shook his head.

"Do you remember her surgery?" Elena tilted her head. "You were there." She nodded when he shook his head. "She was going to lose her leg. You were bent on cutting it off and I wouldn't let you."

"I suppose that's a good thing since she made a full recovery."

"There's a reason for it," Elena pulled her arm free. It felt wrong taking physical comfort from him when he didn't know the truth. Would he still like her if he knew? Would he have sought her out that night? Would they have gotten to where they were now?

"My friend, Caroline, is a vampire. She healed Lily and she made everyone forget."

Joel laughed nervously and looked around the room.

"Where are the cameras?"

"This isn't a joke Joel."

Elena pulled out her phone and sent a message to Caroline. She liked him, and she wanted to tell him everything, but he wouldn't believe her.

"Just wait. Caroline is on her way."

She stood from the stool and carried the bloodwork to the door. She flagged down an intern and told them to rush the results.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later Elena turned around to find a bubbly blonde minus the bubbles.

"I personally think this is crazy."

"So you texted," Elena lifted her phone.

"Great," Caroline sighed, "Where is he?"

* * *

The outraged cry was what drew Elena into the boardroom. She could see the anger flashing in his eyes.

"She took my memory," he pointed wildly to the blonde. "How the hell did she take my memory?"

Elena held up her hands and slowly explained the art of compulsion. It was something he already knew, but she had to remind him of it.

She wasn't sure how they got into the screaming match. She only knew that one moment she was trying to apologize and the next he was accusing her of sending Caroline after him that night.

The heat behind his words brought stinging tears to her eyes.

Caroline heaved an exasperated sigh when her friend slammed the door hard enough to rattle the blinds. She waited a second before turning to Joel.

"That was cruel."

He jumped having forgotten her presence in the room.

"She manipulated my mind," he crossed his arms.

"No," Caroline growled. "I did. I was hanging around the hospital in case and I found you. Elena didn't ask me to compel you, and until a few days ago she didn't even realize I had."

"She…"

"Wanted to save a child's leg," Caroline hissed. "She was a vampire herself but she took the cure. She wanted to be human, but sometimes she regrets the decision. And it's when she gets a case like Lily. She despises compulsion Joel, and she's not a manipulator."

* * *

"Dr. Goran?"

He looked up from where he was using the wall to keep himself up. Elena had gone home ill after getting her fellow Fellow to cover her cases, and she wasn't answering her phone.

"What?"

His hand curled into a fist. The sudden desire to punch something washed over him. He had a feeling the intern saw it in his face because he shrunk back.

"Umm… I've got some lab results here… it's got your signature on it."

He snatched the envelope and tore the paper from inside. He didn't notice the intern running off with a 911 page.

"This is Dr. Gilbert's," he read the patient name. The blood drained from his face.

 **Patient Name:** **GILBERT, Elena** **240153**

 **Gender:** **F**

 **Date of Birth:** **June 22, 1992 (31)**

 **Serum b-hCG Quantitative Test**

 **Result:** **98mIU/ml**

* * *

 **What do you think so far? I'm planning on bringing in an Original at some point soon. I'm thinking someone is going to pop by and check in.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I do not own TVD or TO.**

* * *

She pushed through the doors of her apartment building and darted into the stair well, but she barely made it to the first landing before her shaking legs caught up with her. The muscles were defiant and refused to go an inch further.

Her hand darted out to grasp the rail as she collapsed to her knees. Strands of dark hair fell into her eyes and clung to her cheeks.

He had called her a liar. He had accused her of using him; of manipulating him.

There was no way he could have known about Katherine or how much those comments would truly hurt, but they had. She felt like he had taken a knife and thrust it into her heart. And she knew that feeling, she'd only been run through the once but the sensation of cold steel penetrating the pounding organ.

She thought she had left her insecurities behind with her doppelganger complex when she left Mystic Falls, but it seemed that everything was just beneath the surface. Now all she needed was for Katherine to show up and Joel to decide he liked her ancestor better than her.

If she were actually to step back and examine his response to Caroline and the supernatural world she would have seen that it was unlikely to happen, but at the moment she couldn't see passed her hurt feelings.

She couldn't see anything through the blur of tears and used the rail to guide herself around before bracing her knees.

She barely heard the approaching footsteps.

Elena jerked away from the strong hand that landed on her shoulder and turned into the wall. A line appeared between her brows when the hand settled on her opposite shoulder.

"I killed you, Elena," his hands carefully steered her into his chest, "offering some comfort while you sob is the very least I can do."

Her eyes opened enough to focus on the man's dark jeans.

"K-Klaus?" She glanced up through the tears clinging to her lashes.

Ten years ago she would have pushed him away. She would have shouted and stormed off, but things had changed; his arm was nice and his chest solid.

Her red eyes were practically swollen shut with her tears when a set of heels entered the stairwell. She didn't have to look to know who it was. She could smell the floral perfume. The cloyingly sweet smell made her stomach knot and twist.

"Now this is something I thought I'd never see," Caroline paused.

"Don't get used to it," Klaus chuckled.

* * *

Caroline returned from where she had placed Elena in her bed to find Klaus still standing outside the apartment door. He had carried the brunette up the stairs after she had fallen into an uneasy sleep and had given her to Caroline so they didn't have to wake her for an invite.

"So what are you doing here?" Caroline leaned against the frame of the door on the inside of the threshold.

"You never called me back," he knocked gently on the wall.

"Since when do you expect me to call you?" She arched an eyebrow and just held in her scoff.

"Normally I don't," he smirked. "It's a rare occasion when you call me, but most of the time when you do there is a sense of finality to the conversation."

Caroline tilted her head and crossed her arms.

"Have you already forgotten your accusation, love?" His eyes sparkled with amusement. "You said I sent a 'little spy' to watch Elena. I didn't appreciate the accusation."

"That was nearly four months ago," she frowned. Cold panic dripped down her spine.

"Yes," he nodded, "I would have come sooner, but I couldn't get away."

"You can now?" She straightened in the door so they were only separated by the threshold.

"I couldn't leave Hope, so I waited for a break in her schooling," he explained. His eyes darted to her chest as he counted the beats of her heart.

"I don't see Hope," she made a show of peering around him. Straightening she met his blue eyes.

"She's at the hotel with Elijah," he murmured. "Wanted to go for a swim."

"Oh?" Caroline nodded slowly. She had forgotten how mesmerizing Klaus could be so it took a moment for his words to register, but when they did her heart stuttered. "Elijah's here?"

Klaus took a small step back and nodded. For a moment he caught the widening of her eyes before she schooled her features back into a smooth mask.

"Have you got a problem with Elijah love?" Klaus cocked an eyebrow.

"No," she tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Who was the little spy? You made it sound like I knew them."

"I was mistaken," Caroline cleared her throat. "He wasn't even a vampire."

"You seemed pretty convinced," his eyes narrowed.

Caroline shrugged and pressed her lips together.

"You know me. I jump to conclusions all the time."

"Who was it?"

"Nobody," she shook her head, "don't worry about it."

She hadn't told him for a reason because she knew how Elena's life had been after learning of her supernatural status. He was like Elena: powerful, mystical and naturally recurring. The why of his existence eluded her, but she knew her friend wanted to keep him safe.

Klaus tilted his head to the left and listened. Caroline was young yet and still showed a lot of emotions in her eyes as she hadn't quite learned control. He didn't need his supernatural abilities to tell she was hiding something from him.

"How about Elena then?" He nodded to the room where they could both hear her rolling over.

"What about her?" Caroline frowned and glanced over her shoulder.

"She was sobbing in the stairwell, love," his voice dropped to a whisper. "Now does she have an actual reason to be crying or is it just the hormones?"

"Excuse me!"

Her annoyance flared instantly as she quivered with indignation for her sleeping friend.

"Don't get so upset Caroline."

"You just accused her of crying for no apparent reason!" Her voice came out in a deadly hiss.

"No I asked if she had a reason," Klaus lifted one finger. "It's not an unreasonable question, love. Hayley would burst into tears whenever she was angry; one time she didn't even know why she was crying."

Her anger turned to confusion. Why was he talking about Hayley?

It must have been clear on her face because he tilted his head and frowned.

"You do know she's pregnant?"

"Elena?" Caroline blinked slowly and shook her head. "She's not…"

"She is," Klaus cocked an eyebrow. "I can smell the shift in her hormones."

"Elena's not…"

"Elena's not what?"

Caroline turned to find her friend emerging from the bedroom; she shuffled across the floor and looked between the vampire and hybrid at the door.

"Pregnant," Caroline cleared her throat and met Elena's red rimmed eyes. "You're not pregnant."

"Terribly sorry, Elena," Klaus glanced at the doppelganger. "I thought you would have told her already."

"And I told you she's not pregnant," Caroline sighed. "She's not even seeing anybody…"

Caroline trailed off when the blood drained from her face and watched Elena's hand settle on her flat stomach. The brunette was hardly ever out of the hospital: it was her dating pool. She had come home more than once smelling of other people, but Caroline had shrugged that off since she spent her day's wrist deep in other people's bodies.

With her head cocked to the side Caroline listened. The sound was almost too faint to hear, but after a moment she picked it up: the unmistakable sound of a fluttering heart.

She didn't have to ask who the father was, but apparently Klaus did.

"Congratulations," he smirked.

Klaus couldn't understand her reaction when he asked the question though. Her breath shook as she raked her hands back through her hair and a fresh wave of tears welled in her dark eyes.

"Elena?"

* * *

 _Pregnant… pregnant… pregnant…_

The word repeated in his mind like a mantra. It was all he could hear. The test results were all he could see.

She was pregnant; five to six weeks according to the hCG level of her blood.

 _Pregnant…_

A child had been forming in her for the past three weeks.

 _Pregnant…_

Denial had always been his first instinct in situations like this, and he had always been right in the past. The few times something like this had happened it had been with women who got around more than him.

 _Pregnant…_

He wanted to deny it, but he knew he couldn't.

She was different. She was warm and kind, and unlike him didn't sleep around. He hadn't even been sleeping around, and it had nothing to do with the knowledge that Alex and Maggie had both been watching him: waiting for him to slip up.

She was pregnant.

She was pregnant with his child.

She was pregnant with his child and he had called her a manipulative bitch.

He assumed she had been waiting for confirmation to tell him, and now the confirmation was in his hands.

There was going to be a baby. At that moment in time the heart was beating so softly only the strongest of ultrasound machines could hope to pick up the gentle flutter. It was developing a nose, eyes and ears.

Were they his eyes or hers?

* * *

"Elena?" Klaus pushed as close to the barrier as he could get, but one look at the brunette told him he wasn't stepping over the threshold any time soon. He wasn't even sure she could hear him.

Caroline moved, carefully backed her silent friend into a chair, and reached for a box of tissues. She took a few when the brunette didn't and pressed them into her cold hand.

Elena trembled and shakily wiped at her cheeks. It was real. There was really a baby growing rapidly beneath her hand.

She was going to be a mother.

So much for Caroline's ten year plan.

* * *

He moved through the hospital in a bit of a daze. The generic wallpaper seemed overly bright, the flowers overly sweet.

His eyes moved left and right frantically as everything around him seemed to move in slow motion.

Nurses moved from one room to the next administering medications. Interns circled the floor on rounds. The crash cart rounded a far corner before vanishing from his line of sight.

Somewhere in the distance he heard a baby cry.

The sound snapped him from his reverie and allowed his eyes to finally light on the object of his search.

"Alex!"

* * *

Elena released a shaking breath and smoothed her scrub top down.

"Are you sure?" She lifted her eyes to Klaus.

"Are you going to invite me in, love?" He nodded.

Elena nodded her consent before remembering she actually had to say the words. She blinked as Klaus stepped inside and closed the door.

"Now," he inhaled slowly. "Who's the father?"

Elena's stomach knotted as she lifted her eyes to his curious gaze.

"Does it matter?"

"Is that your way of saying you don't know?" Klaus frowned.

Caroline rolled her eyes before looking to her friend.

"Do you want me to slap him?"

"I'd love to see you try," he chuckled.

"I know who…"

"Then why aren't you saying?" Klaus hummed. He took a seat across from Elena and Caroline.

"I don't… I just… I want to leave him out of this," she waved towards Klaus. If was clear she meant the supernatural. "What are you doing here?"

"Checking in," his eyes darted from Elena to Caroline. "I wanted to make sure you weren't in trouble after Caroline accused me of sending a spy, but apparently he wasn't even a vampire."

"No," Elena murmured, "he's certainly not that."

* * *

Alex shook her head slowly and watched him through incredulous eyes. She couldn't believe he was actually asking her that question.

"Seriously?" She gave him a bitter laugh. "You really think I'm going to tell you where she lives? If she wanted you to know she would have told you herself."

Alex spun on her heel and strode through the hall when her pager went off. Joel watched her go while going through his options. There weren't many of them. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't see the woman coming up beside him.

"Did I hear that right?" Maggie covered her laugh when Joel jumped. "You're looking for Elena?"

"Yeah," Joel willed his heart to stop thumping against his ribs. "She went home a few hours ago and isn't answering her phone."

"What's the rush?" Maggie tilted her head and looked him up and down. There was a frenzied look in his eye and a twitch in his muscles.

"I have to talk to her."

"No kidding," Maggie shook with a silent laugh.

"I owe her an apology Maggie. Do you know where she lives?"

Maggie leaned against the wall.

"I might."

* * *

He was on the third floor when he paused to catch his breath and asked himself why she would want to live on the top floor of a building with no elevator. He was in excellent shape but this was ridiculous.

He couldn't remember the last time he had climbed so many stairs. He ran regularly but climbing stairs used different muscles. Apparently they were muscles he hadn't exercised in years.

He was just starting up again when footsteps sounded at the top of the stairs. He moved to the side of the steps to let the man pass and paused when felt eyes staring at him.

Lifting his gaze he frowned at the look on the man's face. He recognized the surprise in his blue eyes. It was the same look that had been in Caroline and Elena's eyes that first day. It was a look that said: 'I know you'.

Only Joel had never seen this man before in his life.

"What the devil are you doing?"

Joel gripped the rail and frowned. There was something dangerous in the other man's eyes. As he looked into the intense blue he got the sense that he was staring into time itself.

"Do I know you?"

Joel just held in his desire to take a step back when the man moved in a blur. It was the same type of speed he had seen Caroline use earlier at the hospital after she made him remember everything; she hadn't cared about him seeing her then.

His heart leapt into his throat and pounded wildly when the man stopped in front of him. A line appeared between Joel's brows when he leaned closer and inhaled deeply.

"Human," he took a small step back and blinked. "That's impossible."

Joel took a shallow breath and cleared his throat.

"I'd ask what else there is, but nothing human can move that fast," his eyes darted to where the man had been standing. "What's not possible?"

"You," he murmured. He tilted his head and listened. "Would I be correct in assuming you're here to see a certain brunette?"

Joel's hand tightened around the test results. The crinkling paper immediately drew blue eyes to his fist, and before Joel could react the paper was pulled from his hand.

"Do doctors in Toronto always make house calls?" He glanced up from the test results. His eyes sparkled with amusement when Joel said nothing. "No way?"

Joel blinked in surprise. His heart stuttered in his chest as the world around him blurred. A moment later things came into focus again.

He reached out and hugged the wall. Based on the architecture of the hall he was sure they were still in the same building, but he was also certain half of his internal organs were still in the stairwell; possibly hovering in mid-air.

"What did you just do?" He closed his eyes and willed his insides to stop knotting.

"Saved you seven flights of stairs," the disembodied voice chuckled. "Honestly I don't know why Elena chose this building. I might have to insist she move; the last thing she needs is to trip on those stairs."

Joel opened his eyes when the knock sounded on the door of an apartment: 104. It was less than a minute before the door opened to reveal Caroline.

"Klaus?" She frowned. "I thought you were leaving."

"I was," Klaus smirked, "and then I ran into someone in the stairwell."

Caroline took half a step forward and gasped when she saw the man in blue surgical scrubs.

"Seriously?" She fell back against the door frame. "You couldn't have waited another twenty minutes."

Joel straightened up and watched Klaus shift so he was facing Caroline. The dangerous gleam turned to a cross between amusement and suspicion as he regarded the vampire.

"My little spy, huh?" Klaus crossed his arms. "You thought I sent Elijah up here to watch Elena," he pointed to Joel. "That's why you sounded so surprised when you found out he was still in New Orleans. I'm assuming he's also the reason you were nervous when I told you Elijah was in town."

"Elijah's in town?" A soft voice sounded from inside the apartment.

Elena stepped up beside Caroline and grew pale when she saw the men outside her door. It was very clear that Elijah was not the one standing in the hall.

"Joel?" Her hand twitched towards her stomach. She pulled back at the last moment, but she knew from Klaus' chuckle that he had seen it.

Elena's eyes darted from Joel to the hybrid and back.

"I guess that answers that question."


End file.
